Tales of Whammy
by NothingThere2Hurt
Summary: First few chapters are G, it gets into yaoi. Pairings MattxMello and MelloxNear, slight MattxNear. This is through Mello's POV from the time he came to Whammy's house until he died. SPOILERS FOR WHOLE SERIES D


I was still holding onto my jacket. My face pressed half-way into it, my hot cheeks feeling the tear soaked fabric cold against my face. On top of that was the rain and mud I felt trailing down the slight hill I was on. I still couldn't believe what had happened… he had always seemed like he'd be there… but now, he's gone.

L always seemed invincible. Until just the recent hour, I had found out that he had died. Roger was being a dick as usual, so I decided to leave. I was going to leave Roger, Near, Whammy's House in total. Who needed them? Who wanted them? Fuck them.

From that moment, I knew that I wasn't going back. I was 15, close to the age of adulthood; I could make it on my own. After the thought of L crossed my corrupt mind again, my heart strings pulled and I turned over, to find Matt standing over me, blocking the rain from hitting my flustered face. I wiped my eyes and stared angrily up at him.

"What do you want?" I asked, surprised that I could even talk I felt so bad. He just looked at me. "I said --"

"I heard what you said." He replied. He held his hand out and I slapped it away, completely ready to turn away any and every hint of help. I told Roger that I was going out on my _own_, and I intended to keep my word. "I don't want you to help me. I'm comfortable right here on the ground. Go away!" He just continued to look at me.

"You're not taking it very well, are you?" His voice was cracking still. He seemed even more cute now too. He not only had longer dark brown hair, but he still wore a black and white stripped shirt, along with some blue jeans. Besides that, he had on the same dorky goggles that hid his eyes. I could tell he was on the verge of taking the deep plunge into puberty, but he was quite late in my opinion.

"What does it matter? Are you just going to keep asking me questions? I don't have to answer you! I just want you to leave me alone! Go away!" I rolled over onto my stomach and laid my face down in my arms, the tips of my nose just barely touching the grass.

"But, you're freezing out here! You'll die…" He retorted. I felt his hands grab my sides and try to pick me up, my limbs hanging as if I were a lanky cat.

"I'm not just some abandoned puppy you can just---" As I spoke, I turned over. When I did, I then realized that he had removed his goggles and his now more piercing green eyes stared at me. My muscles became less tense and I felt a feeling sweep through my body. A weird, secure feeling. The feeling that matched with my sadness and made all of my emotions neutral. I felt his large arms grab my body and pull me up and I failed to squirm or make any movement. I just sat there and I hugged him around his neck.

"I'm back." He told me. My lips began to tremble and I squeezed his neck, breaking down onto his shoulder for the billionth time in our relationship. I had missed him terribly in the last 3 years and I desperately wanted him back. He was finally here, right here! In my arms. I caught my breath and sighed deeply, just listening to the rain fall and his heart beat. Soon, it seemed, as if I were back at Whammy's house.

My bare feet were wet and I was soaked to the bone. It was freezing and raining, plus partially snowing. It was mid November, very close to my 5th birthday, but I didn't understand exactly why my parents yanked me out of the bed so late at night to take me for such an unbearable walk far from our home in Berlin. My curiosity was stopped when they threw me in the back of a car, my mother and father getting into the front two seats and we began a drive. I wiped my eyes and sat up straight, looking up at my mother.

"What're we---"

"Shut up and sit back, Mihael!" she screamed at me. I flinched back and stayed quite, looking out of the window. I kind of dozed off, the soft hum of the engine settling me. The next thing I knew, the car stopped, the front two doors opened and closed. Soon thereafter, my door opened and my father picked me up forcefully and quickly, making me hit my head on the door.

"Ow!!" I shrieked. He shook me.

"Stay quiet! It's very early!!!" He commanded. I grabbed my head and prayed it would quit throbbing. Just as it did, he dropped me to my feet and I stood face to face with the door. Father knocked loudly and I flinched from the partial fear it placed in me. A few seconds later, an elderly man creaked open the door. I stared at him, he stared at father, who stared at mother, who stared at the wall, her right foot tapping impatiently. Suddenly, my father pushed me forward, I catching myself on the door.

"Take him." my father's gruff voice commanded. I looked at the man and he returned me a warm, yet gloomy, expression.

"You will just abandon this child here, tonight?" he asked. "The plan was for---"

"Take him!!" Mother screamed. I started to tear up. I didn't want to believe this… I wanted it to be a dream.

"Very well." The man said deeply. He took my hand. As he pulled me into the foyer, my own mother and father were turning around to leave. I tried to grab the door frame. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I do remember screaming for them.

"Momma!! Papa!! Come back!!" I cried out with all of my might. I felt my lungs stretch and my stomach grow tight. I knew what was happening. They were leaving me. They were really leaving me for good this time. As I cried out more, I tried to grow louder, but the saliva in my throat welled up and prevented the rise in my volume. "Come back!! Come back…!"

"Good riddance, Mihael!" They shouted at me. The door closed and I jerked my hand from the man. Panicked, I ran to the windows and beat against it. I screamed at the top of my lungs again as the red tail lights sped out of sight. Just like that, they left me.

"Come, Mihael." the man said. His voice was deep and serious, yet soft and gentle. He picked me up and started to carry me into the next room. I gave in --- my bridge collapsed -- and hugged his neck, crying out loud.

"Roger?" Another elderly voice asked. I didn't see what he looked like, all I knew was that he also had a very deep and soft voice. "Did we get another?"

"Yes." Roger replied. "We'll set him down for the night in Near's room. That's the closest room with an empty bed." He journeyed from the main room and down a hall. As I opened my eyes, I saw many children peeking around their door corners, many bodies submitting themselves through the dim light. I was the center of their curiosity and I felt as if I were getting started on a bad foot. As I wiped another set of the blurry nuisances in my eyes, Roger came to a halt. I lifted my head to see who 'Near' was. I looked down to see a white-haired boy wearing white pajamas. He was probably an inch and a half shorter that I was, but no way he was cuter! "Near, may Mihael stay the night in here?" The boy stared at me, then at Roger.

"'Mel'?" Near asked. What a baby. He couldn't even pronounce 'Mihael' right. 'Mel' was all that came out.

"Mihael." Roger repeated slowly. Near just stared, uttering "Oh."

"Nevermind. Let's get him down." Roger walked into the room and set me on the bed. "Tomorrow, we will settle you in. Just sleep tonight." Easy for him to say. I laid in bed and waited until he left. Once he did, I sat up, looking at Near. The moonlight flooding into the room, illuminating Near and his white figure. If his skin were only 4 or 5 shades lighter, he'd be a ghost. He returned the look to me and I began to grow angry. I knew he was making fun of me inside.

"Stop making fun of me." I commanded. He just kept looking at me. There was something about him that I liked. Something that I couldn't explain, but it called for me. Yet, at the same time, I felt as if we would never get along. I clenched my blanket as his solemn and calm state just sat there, looking at me as if I were not human. "I said, stop making fun of me!!!"

"I'm not." He replied. His voice was so tiny and annoying. I began to feel a red hot feeling of hate just flush right through me. He was making fun of me… I knew it!

"Yes you are!!!" I screamed. "Stop it!!" I hopped up from my bed and ran to his, climbing from the foot of the bed into it. "Stop it!! Stop making fun of me!!" I grabbed his blanket and clenched it, feeling my pulse in my finger tips. I felt a piercing sting in my eyes and soon tears formed. "I know you're making fun of me! I can see it in your eyes!!" They began to fall and as I got really close to his face, I let go of the blanket and fell into his lap. Then, with a low voice, I continued, "I can hear you making fun of me because my parents abandoned me." I cried. I cried and sobbed and cried even more. I felt such an emptiness inside of me, and even though I just met Near, I felt as if he would be able to.. I guess the phrase is "save me". He looked down at me and placed both hands on my shoulders.

"It's OK." He said in a soft voice. "My parents left me too." He caressed my neck as my face stayed buried and I lay there. My whole life seemed as if it were going nowhere now. The feeling that you are standing in a room screaming as loud as you can and nobody can hear you is a feeling that no child should feel.

Days at Whammy's House were going by severely slowly, and I enjoyed my new name. (Since Near couldn't pronounce Mihael, he instead just said Mel, which was a name already, so we just added an o. It looks cooler that way). The grievance I had for my parents was stiffening, but I would slowly get over it. Near was a huge part of the healing process. Everyday, he would show me a bit more of Whammy's house, letting me into all of the secrets and explaining to me how everything worked. We were becoming really good friends and I would forget about my parents leaving me when I was with him. It was as if he filled the gap and leveled my bridge. Between us, I felt a pact, a secret, a deep relationship in bloom. It was as if we were rose buds, budding at fast speed. Soon, we would be at full bloom and shine brightly among the other flowers in the Whammy garden. At least, that's how Roger put it. I couldn't wait! My life was put into a different perspective here. Although, my life was also thrown around and sometimes set back a step or two. Coming to Whammy's house brought me meeting Near, but also meeting the bad side of Whammy's children.

"Give us that ball, you faggot!" William screamed at me. I just stood underneath the giant oak tree, talking to Near about my dreams of becoming a professional football player as he completed a 20 piece puzzle, now being face to face with William and his cronies, Phillip and Charity. I held the black and white ball in my hand, at a total halt and just looking up at the gang of 9 year olds. I trembled in a small way, but I was tired of being pushed around. I held my ball and stood my ground. "Hey, kid, you heard me! Give. Me. The. BALL!" He tried to force it from my hands. I held on.

"Stop it, William!!" I shouted at him. He lifted me off the ground and shook me. "This is my football that Near gave me! Let it go!!" Charity grabbed my waist and Phillip pried my fingers off of the ball. I jumped up and down, trying to grab it, but it seemingly kept going higher and higher. Eventually, Phillip and William ran off, Charity pushing me down on the tree roots that stood steeply out of the ground and proceeded to her friends. She left immediate ear shot before I could bellow my cry of pain. I placed my hands on my right knee and fell on my back. Near stood over me, looking down in astonishment. "Near. Near, help me!!" His eyes moved from my face to my knee and his eyes grew enormous, his expression going from the usual, plain one to a more concerned and worried one.

"Bleed…" He muttered. "You're bleeding!! Roger!! Watari!! Someone, help!!!" I laid there, feeling partially embarrassed by Near's stupidity of flailing his arms around and running to get help, when he could have just helped me up and walked with me to the infirmary. It was no big deal. L came running over, Near, right at his heels. He towered over me and stared at my knee. He looked down at Near and shook his head.

"It's a minor cut, Near." He hunched over my knee and examined the cut. "Your knee is swollen, but it's a small cut." I looked at it. All I knew was that it hurt. Very little blood oozed from the wound, but it wasn't anything a band aid couldn't handle. I laid my head down and stared at Near. "Dummy." L muttered, placing a small band aid over it. He picked me up and pointed for Near to grab my other side and I shrugged him off, hopping to the infirmary for ice. Near just stood there like an abandoned child in the winter, looking dumbfounded and lost. I hoped that he was drowning in his stupidity. "What happened?" L asked me, half way across the yard, opening the door that led to the main hallway of Whammy.

"William and his stupid sidekicks." I replied, hobbling in and grabbing the wall as L made sure not to let it slam on it's own. We proceeded to make our way down the hall. "I was playing with my football and they came up and took it." He looked down at me, then at my knee. I sighed. "They pushed me against the oak tree." L snickered a little bit. Not at my being pushed down by William, but at the memory, which entered my mind as well, of when he broke his arm his fifth week here. He had apparently been curious of how long the distance was from the tree branch to the ground, or maybe it was a dare. Either way, he had broken his arm in 3 places.

We finally made it to the infirmary and I waited as two of the nurses came and sat me in a chair, one going to get ice for my knee. I waited. My knee was swollen pretty bad, and it just kept pulsating and aching. It felt far worse than just a shove to the ground. I laid back as they cleaned it with peroxide and put fresh bandages on it. The nurse who was tending to the bandages started to squeeze my knee, sending an excruciating and malicious jolt of pain through my entire body. I quickly grabbed my knee, pushing her hands away. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Mello, you need to quit that!" she hollered back at me. She thrust my hands off of my knee, my jaw dropping with surprise.

"Well, it hurts!!" I argued, staying put, propping my elbow up and resting my head in the palm of my hand. A deep and impatient sigh escaped my body as I anticipated the end of my adventure in the infirmary. Soon, the nurse stood and held her hand out to help me to my feet, I just slapped it away as L approached and I took to his arm. "L will take me." I childishly stuck my tongue out and hobbled into the hallway. We made our way to the room, where L just made sure I was comfortably situated in my bed. He leaned over me to make sure my pillows were right, bent down to prop my knee up, and I felt secure. His very smell made me reassured that everything would be fine. When he examined my knee once again, I found myself leaning in to hug him. He froze and all I could hear was his heart beat. I felt so pathetic there. I looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks."

It wasn't too long until I was hopping around on crutches. I had a hair line fracture on my knee cap and the swelling never went down, so I got special treatment. More people started talking to me though. I was sitting at the same table Near was at when I hurt myself doing my coursework, a slight breeze was going, bits and pieces of clouds dotted the sky on this chilly November afternoon. Near was putting together yet another puzzle, neither of us saying a word while I tried to remember what year World War 2 had ended. I racked my brain. Answer on the tip of my tongue, heading to the pen, a voice called my name. I froze, mind blank. My concentration was broken as I looked up to see a rather ecstatic Linda running over, a few other children coming with her. They all surrounded me, seemingly fascinated by my knee. So many questions were thrown at me, I felt as if I were a very famous person being surrounded by the paparazzi. Fixing to stop the noise and take order to one question at a time, there was a sudden scream. The crowd that surrounded me soon left and jolted for the fence, starring in awe at a kid who was being escorted to the front of the orphanage by a tall adult in a long coat with a hat. I could only catch a glimpse of the man's piercing green eyes. My eyes widened in fear. I hadn't felt so much fear before, not even the night I came to Whammy. I never saw the child walking by. If I couldn't see him over the kids, I figured he were littler than myself, possibly Near or smaller. I just shook my head and continued on to my coursework. Although, I did catch bits and pieces of the children making their comments.

"Hey, dude, what do you have there?"

"Kid! Kid! What's you're name?"

"Oh wow, you dress so weird!"

I glanced at them and started to become thoroughly pissed off. This new kid was going to ruin my title here and also take the attention away from my knee. I know I hadn't been here very often, but it hasn't been but just over a week! I ignored them as they ran off, burying myself into my course work, and was completely content until Near made a stupid remark. "Maybe we should go check him out?"

"Pffft! Are you stupid? No, we're not going to check him out." I stayed with my nose pressed into the book. He looked up at me, then back down to his puzzle. I heard him sigh and he got down. I lifted my eyes to see the top of his white, fluffy hair disappearing beneath the table. I growled, "Near, are you leaving?"

"But I wanna see 'im, Mello!" he whined. I balled my fist, set my pencil down and got onto my crutches.

"Fine, fine, let's go." I rolled my eyes as we made our way, slowly but surely, to the front of the whole foundation. Every child at Whammy's was crowded into the foyer and the hallway, even up the stairway, to see the new child. Even the teenagers who never participated in things like this came. Roger pushed through the crowd, holding the little one. He was just as big as I was, only I was taller by a half inch or so. Roger made his way up the stairs, setting the boy down and letting him walk, but as the Whammy children followed, he shooed them back down again and encouraged them to go play while there was still sunlight. I was curious to know this new one now. So I made a plan to get myself up the stairs with a legitimate reason, without being followed by Near nor anyone else. I turned on my crutches and made my way towards the door outside, when I fell. I made sure to not hit my right knee and let out a shrill cry. Watari came in and saw me on the floor, picking me up and taking me to Near and mine's room. I forced tears and Watari tried to calm me. I eventually settled down and he just smiled warmly at me, asking if I would be alright alone. I sniffled a bit and nodded. He pat my forehead then stood up, exiting the room. Once I heard the end hall door slam shut, I sat up and hopped out of bed, grabbing the wall, and limping to the door. Just as I turned the door knob on mine, the hall door opened again and I hopped on one leg back into my bed and made myself comfortable looking. Watari brought in my crutches and leaned them against my bedside wall, wishing me well and exiting. I remained quiet and held my breath, listening for his footsteps down the stairway. They pattered until I could no longer hear them and I got out of bed once more, put myself on the crutches, and made my way down to the room two doors down where this new kid was at. I pushed the door open and staggered in, a startled little boy with brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes, similar to that mysterious man's, looked up from the window. I sauntered over and sat on the bed and glared at him, knowing I would not like him a single bit, but my heart suddenly dropped when I saw the tears streaming down his face. I furrowed my eyebrows in anger and snarled. I pushed myself towards him, then shouted, "Why are you here!? I'm the new kid, I can't have you stealing my light!" He just sniffled and, rubbing his eyes, spoke up.

"I'm sorry." He buried his head in his hands and sobbed. I grew angrier. Why did I just lose my temper? Why did I get angry so easily? What did it matter that I wasn't the new kid anymore? I knew exactly how this one felt. I knew just how it was to be abandoned by the people you thought least of all would leave you on someone's door step. Yet, here I was, screaming. Screaming at this young boy who hasn't done a thing to me. Who didn't choose to be here today. Who had a someone he loved at one point in his life. Roger then come in and took my hand, helping me to my feet, and instructing me to get on my crutches and be on my way.

"I heard every word." he responded to my facial expression. "I do hope you intend to start over, Mello?" I looked at him and narrowed my eyes in an angered fashion, which soon eased off with his unchanging serious one. I lowered my head and looked at the brown haired kid, who just sadly forced a smile and said, "Call me Matt."


End file.
